In recent years, international students in Australia have found themselves caught in the middle of a national debate about visa policy, student safety, and higher-education regulation.
First came a series of highly publicized incidents attacks on foreign students. Then reports that unscrupulous vocational-education providers were accepting students more interested in immigration than education led to a government crackdown and visa reforms.
To help give the more than 500,000 international students a stronger voice in these national education and immigration debates, a new advocacy organization has been formed: the Council of International Students Australia.
“We needed a single, unified voice to advocate the various grievances of students at a national level,” says Robert Atcheson, head of the new group.
The council’s first priority will be to assist students who have suddenly become uncertain about their futures in the country because of changes in immigration rules and the closures of some educational providers for questionable practices.
Many students came to Australia expecting to be able to apply for permanent residency upon graduation. But in July the federal government made this more difficult by shortening the list of professions the country considers pathways to residency.
The government has also shut down 15 private colleges that catered to international students. The move has affected 3,713 students, according to the student-placement company IDP, which reports that 57 percent of those students have been placed with other educational providers or given refunds.
“This really comes down to an equity issue,” says Mr. Atcheson. “The government is not fairly dealing with the students who are already studying here in Australia.”
As an example of the problems, Mr. Atcheson, who is an American law student at Australian National University, pointed to foreign nursing students in the country. On July 1, the government started requiring that they score higher on English-language tests before they enter the workplace. After protests by nurses and others, the government eased the new rules. But Mr. Atcheson says they are a sign of the unfair approach the government is taking, arguing that Australian authorities should have set up a “transitional program” to help those who entered the country before regulations were revised.
“The government is constantly moving the goal post for international students without concern for its ramifications,” he says.
Mr. Atcheson says that some of the regulations smack of discrimination and that his organization will be lobbying the government to get solutions for the foreign students. For example, he wants public money to help improve the quality of some of the vocational schools where non-Australians enroll.
“More than lobbying the government for changes to immigration rules—which I think now, whichever way you cut it, will get tougher—our job is to explain what these rules and their ramifications mean to the students themselves. Are they safe here or are they not?” asks Carla Drakeford, president of the National Union of Students, which is working with the new council.
The country’s political parties are negotiating to form a new government, but Ms. Drakeford says the immigration crackdown is likely to continue regardless of which one is in power.
Victims of Violence
Another key issue the international-student council will take up is safety. In recent years, at least 25 Indian students in Australia have been assaulted, with one student brutally murdered with no apparent motive for the attack.
Mr. Atcheson says his council is working with other educational groups to teach international students about the “importance of situational awareness.” He wants safety tips provided not only to foreign students, but also to Australians.
“When one student becomes a victim of violence, regardless of their nationality, it affects the entire student community and damages Australia’s reputation as being a safe country in which to study,” he says.
A part of its efforts, the council, which has a budget of about $719,000, is establishing affiliates at the state and territory levels. So far 52 student unions, minority-student associations, and other educational groups have joined it. Mr. Atcheson says having a large variety of local affiliates is key to swaying government decisions.
“Many of the issues facing international students cannot be compartmentalized within a single government [agency], but rather they overlap with different governmental departments on both the federal and state level,” he says.
Simon Marginson, a professor of education at the University of Melbourne and an expert on international-student security, says that he supports the new council but that only time will tell how effective it is.
“It’s good that it’s being run by students and not businessmen or academics. But we need to wait and see how credible it is and if it does not become politicized,” he says. “I just am not sure if it’s going to stick.”
